Students gathered on Tuesday evening, November 19, for pizza, poetry, and therapeutic vibes. The event kicked off with some incendiary poems by Roya Marsh, who then invited students to step up to the "mic" and perform their own original creations.
Roya Marsh is a native of the Bronx and a nationally recognized poet, performer, educator, and activist. They have been featured on NBC, BET, and Def Jam's All Def Digital, and their poems have been published in Poetry, The Village Voice, Nylon, and Breakbeat Poets volume 2: Black Girl Magic. They work toward LGBTQIA justice and dismantling white supremacy. Their poems vibrate with generosity and good will at the same time that they spark political reflection and animate consciousness.
The room became a safe space where students were energized and encouraged to take their own risks and be vulnerable with each other. Together, they shared their work, and they shared their feelings of anxiety, frustration, sadness, anger, laughter, desire, love, and joy.
The event was organized by Wagner College's poetry instructor, Thomas Fucaloro with support from Wagner's English department and the ACE fund. The English department has been devoted to fostering creative spaces such as this every semester since spring 2021.
